ssed and approved by the deputy governor had to be sent to
England for approval by the Crown within five years. But meanwhile the
people would live under the law for five years, and, if at the end of
that time it was disallowed, the Assembly would reenact the measure and
live under it again for another period.

The ten years after Penn's return to England in 1701 were full of
trouble for him. Money returns from the province were slow, partly
because England was involved in war and trade depressed, and partly
because the Assembly, exasperated by the deputy governors he appointed,
often refused to vote the deputy a salary and left Penn to bear all the
expense of government. He was being rapidly overwhelmed with debt. One
of his sons was turning out badly. The manager of his estates in England
and Ireland, Philip Ford, was enriching himself by the trust, charging
compound interest at eight per cent every six months, and finally
claiming that Penn owed him 14,000 pounds. Ford had rendered accounts
from time to time, but Penn in his careless way had tossed them aside
without examination. When Ford pressed for payment, Penn, still without
making any investigation, foolishly gave Ford a deed in fee simple of
Pennsylvania as security. Afterwards he accepted from Ford a lease of
the province, which was another piece of folly, for the lease could,
of course, be used as evidence to show that the deed was an absolute
conveyance and not intended as a mortgage.

This unfortunate business Ford kept quiet during his lifetime. But on
his death his widow and son made everything public, professed to be
the proprietors of Pennsylvania, and sued Penn for 2000 pounds rent in
arrears. They obtained a judgment for the amount claimed and, as Penn
could not pay, they had him arrested and imprisoned for debt. For nine
months he was locked up in the debtors' prison, the "Old Bailey," and
there he might have remained indefinitely if some of his friends had
not raised enough money to compromise with the Fords. Isaac Norris,
a prominent Quaker from Pennsylvania, happened at that time to be in
England and exerted himself to set Penn free and save the province from
further disgrace. After this there was a reaction in Penn's favor. He
selected a better deputy governor for Pennsylvania. He wrote a long and
touching letter to the people, reminding them how they had flourished
and grown rich and free under his liberal laws, while he had been
sinking in